Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Grande Cache, Alberta, Canada:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Grande Cache Airport (YGC), Grande Cache, Alberta, Canada would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,291 miles (or 6,906 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between RAF Fairford and Grande Cache Airport, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between RAF Fairford and Grande Cache Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.
• Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
• The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.

Facts about Grande Cache Airport (YGC):

• Grande Cache Airport (YGC) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Grande Cache Airport's high elevation of 4,112 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at YGC. Combined with a high temperature, this could make YGC a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Grande Cache Airport (YGC) is Hinton/Jasper-Hinton Airport (YJP), which is located 62 miles (99 kilometers) SE of YGC.
• The furthest airport from Grande Cache Airport (YGC) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,312 miles (16,596 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• In addition to being known as "Grande Cache Airport", another name for YGC is "CEQ5".